Despite one woman recanting her story, eight of the nine men were sentenced to death, resulting in a lengthy legal battle that had massive implications for America's race relations and legal system. Many now consider the case a gross miscarriage of justice (mostly due to its all-white juries).

In 2013, 82 years after their arrest, three of the Scottsboro boys were posthumously pardoned. Four had had the charges against them dropped in 1938, and one was pardoned in 1976 as the last living Scottsboro boy. All nine were innocent — it just took 82 years for Alabama to admit it.

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ALASKA — The Coulthurst family murders in Craig

The entire Coulthurst family (father, mother, and two kids), and four teenage deckhands, were shot to death aboard a fishing boat called the Investor on September 6, 1982. The killer is then believed to have returned to the scene the next afternoon to set the boat on fire.

It was the biggest mass murder in Alaskan history and rocked the small fishing town of Craig, where it took place.

While the violent death of any Hollywood actor would cause a media frenzy, the hype kicked into overdrive once it was discovered that Crane was potentially a sex addict (and this was before the term existed). Police found an extensive x-rated video and Polaroid collection featuring Crane with various women.

ARKANSAS — The West Memphis Three's alleged murders in West Memphis

In 1993, three second-graders (Steve "Stevie" Branch, Christopher Byers, and Michael Moore) were found in a creek, tied up with their own shoelaces, and horrifyingly mutilated. The community was quick to pin the murders on three alleged "Satan worshippers," Jessie Misskelley, Damon Echols, and Jason Baldwin (teens who become known as the "West Memphis Three").

All three were convicted, with Echols getting the death penalty, and Misskelley and Baldwin receiving life sentences. Their case attracted a large amount of high-profile attention, stemming from a popular documentary about the case called "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills."

CALIFORNIA — The serial rapes and murders of the Golden State Killer (aka the Original Night Stalker/East Area Rapist)

The suspect, Joseph DeAngelo.
Rich Pedroncelli/AP Images

On April 26, 2018, the FBI confirmed that they had arrested a man that they believed to be the terrifying Golden State Killer thanks to DNA evidence. The case had been cold for 42 years, but was recently brought back into the public eye when the book "I'll Be Gone in the Dark" was published in February, detailing the multiple crimes authorities believed were committed by the Golden State Killer.

The suspect, identified as Joseph DeAngelo, is allegedly responsible for 12 homicides, 45 rapes, and more than 120 residential burglaries between 1976 and 1986. The crimes were committed throughout the state of California, requiring multiple police departments to work together and share evidence (something that wasn't common in the '70s and '80s).

At a press conference on April 26, the Orange County District Attorney said: "Joseph James DeAngelo has been called a lot of things by law enforcement. He's been called the Eastside Rapist, he's been called the Visalia Ransacker, the Original Nighstalker, and the Golden State Killer. Today it is our pleasure to call him defendant."

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COLORADO — The murder of JonBenét Ramsey in Boulder

The mystery of what actually happened to Ramsey is one of the most famous murder cases in the entire US, not just Colorado. Few cases rival the amount of speculation that the death of 6-year-old Ramsey has received in the 21 years since.

Richard Crafts being arrested for the murder of his wife, Helle.ASSOCIATED PRESS

Most people know the murder of flight attendant Helle Crafts by its nickname, " The Wood Chipper Murder." In 1986, Crafts allegedly went missing after catching her pilot husband Richard cheating on her. He told police that she had left him to return to Denmark, where she was originally from, but her friends and the police weren't convinced.

The prosecution contended that Crafts had become enraged with his wife, murdered her, cut her body up with the chainsaw, and then disposed of it using the rented woodchipper. The jury deliberated for eight hours before ruling Crafts guilty of his wife's murder. The verdict was a state first: a guilty ruling without a body.

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DELAWARE — The murder of Anne Marie Fahey in Wilmington

Thomas Capano.
ASSOCIATED PRESS

The 12-week trial about the disappearance of Anne Marie Fahey kept people captivated in the late '90s.

Even though Fahey was last seen in Philadelphia, as a Delaware resident her case was mainly conducted in Delaware.

More things started to fall into place for the prosecution. One of Capano's other extramarital affairs, Deborah MacIntyre, confessed to buying a gun for Capano at his request. The defense changed their strategy, claiming that Capano had dumped the body, but only after MacIntyre shot Fahey in a jealous rage. MacIntyre denied this claim.

The jury ruled in favor of the prosecution: Capano was found guilty of the murder, and was sentenced to death (later commuted to life in prison). He died in 2011 due to a heart attack. Fahey's body and the gun in question have never been found.

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FLORIDA — The death of 2-year-old Caylee Anthony in Orlando

Caylee Anthony, 2, was reported missing by her maternal grandmother, Cindy, who told police that she hadn't seen Caylee in 31 days and that her daughter's car smelled like a dead body. What followed was a bizarre (and confusing) sequence of events.

When Caylee's remains were found in a plastic bag, the state of Florida officially charged Casey with her murder and announced they were seeking the death penalty, starting what has been dubbed the " social media trial of the century" by TIME.

Casey's defense team claimed that Caylee had drowned in her family's pool, and that Casey's father George had disposed of Caylee's body in order to save Casey from neglect charges. They also claimed that George sexually abused Casey (which he denied) and that she was afraid of him, which is why she didn't report him to authorities.

GEORGIA — The murders of Jacinth Baker and Richard Lollar in Atlanta

The morning after Super Bowl XXXIV in 2000, a fight broke out outside of a nightclub in Atlanta that left Jacinth Baker and Richard Lollar dead on the street. Authorities ended up charging Ray Lewis, an NFL linebacker, and two companions, Reginald Oakley and Joseph Sweeting, with murder and aggravated assault.

Underwood had visited his home on her paper route. Shortly after she left, he told his family he was going to buy some alcohol, which is when he followed her, kidnapped her, sexually assaulted her, and shot her.

Eventually, Wood led authorities to Snake River, where he had buried her body.

ILLINOIS — The "perfect crime" of Leopold and Loeb in Chicago

Leopold and Loeb were two rich, smart, and privileged college students in Chicago who wanted to prove their intellectual superiority by committing the perfect crime.

They spent months planning to kidnap and murder a child, and in May 1924 turned their plan into action. They offered Bobby Franks (Loeb's 14-year-old cousin) a ride home, then bludgeoned him to death. When they disposed of Franks' body, however, Leopold made a fatal flaw — he dropped his glasses. While they were regular glasses, they had a special hinge that only three people in Chicago had. The pair was quickly arrested and convicted, and admitted that they only committed the murder for the thrill of it.

Loeb was murdered in prison, and Leopold served 34 years and was released on parole in 1958. He died at 67 due to a diabetes-related heart attack.

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INDIANA — The murder of Sylvia Likens in Indianapolis

Gertrude Baniszewski, 37, breaks into tears beside her attorney as a jury convicts her of first-degree murder in the slaying of Sylvia Likens.
ASSOCIATED PRESS

The murder of Sylvia Likens is known as the " worst crime in Indiana history." Likens was just 16 when she was found dead in the basement of her temporary home.

Her carnival-worker parents left Sylvia and her sister in the care of 37-year-old Gertrude Baniszewski, a mother of seven, paying Baniszewski by the week.

IOWA — The "Cain and Abel" murders in Cedar Falls

When Leslie Mark and his wife, both 25, and their two children were found murdered in their farmhouse in 1975, the police didn't hesitate to question Mark's older brother, Jerry. The two were later compared to the ill-fated Biblical twins Cain and Abel.

Jerry Mark was convicted of the killings in 1976 and is serving four consecutive life sentences, but maintains his innocence despite having exhausted his appeals. He owned the same bullets found at the crime scene and lied about them, as well as about various other things, making him look suspicious. However, evidence was mostly circumstantial, and more recent DNA results exclude him from being linked to the crime scene.

It is believed that Wesbecker was becoming increasingly unwell in the weeks leading up to the shooting. He was on disability leave from the Standard Gravure, and was openly furious about it. He spoke of "wiping the place out" and getting "even with the company," but those who knew him assumed it was just talk — they were tragically mistaken.

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LOUISIANA — The murder of Faith Hathaway outside of Mandeville

Louisiana State Penitentiary, where Hathaway's killer was held and executed.Wikimedia Commons

Hathaway was walking home from her own farewell party in May 1980 (she was joining the Army), when Robert Lee Willie and Joseph Vaccarro pulled over, abducted her, raped and tortured her, and eventually killed her. Hathaway was stabbed 17 times. The two eventually left her body near the Bogue Chitto River, off of a highway.

The pair were captured in Arkansas, brought back to Louisiana for the trial, and convicted. Vaccarro was sentenced to life in prison, and Willie was sentenced to death, perhaps due to his cavalier attitude about the crimes. He told the courtroom that he had enjoyed raping Hathaway, with her parents in the room.

Willie became close with a nun who was there as a spiritual advisor, and the relationship was depicted in a movie starring Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon, called "Dead Man Walking." Before Willie was executed, he is said to have winked at the nun.

Needle and Sheinberg ran away to New York. While Needle's family demanded he return to Maryland, where he was subsequently arrested, Sheinbein escaped to Israel with his family's help — his father was eventually charged with obstruction of justice.

MASSACHUSETTS — The Borden family murders in Fall River

You might know Lizzie Borden from the rhyme: Lizzie Borden took an axe/And gave her mother 40 whacks/When she saw what she had done/She gave her father 41.

In reality, Borden was acquitted of the 1892 murders of her father and stepmother. Borden had found her father, beaten to death with a hatchet, before alerting the family's maid. Together they then found Borden's stepmother in an upstairs bedroom, also the victim of a hatchet attack.

Police could find no evidence of who committed the crime, but arrested Lizzie and charged her with murder.

Because the evidence against her was purely circumstantial, she was acquitted after the jury deliberated for less than an hour. But the townsfolk of Fall River never stopped believing that she was guilty and ostracized her for the rest of her life.

The Lizzie Borden House where her parents were found murdered is now a popular tourist attraction and was featured on an episode of "Supernatural."

There was a break in the case when a handyman employed by the Basharas, Joe Gentz, confessed to killing Jane, claiming that he had been paid to do so by her husband. Gentz had a low IQ and there was debate as to whether he was mentally competent.

MINNESOTA — The murder of Jacob Wetterling in St. Joseph

Jacob Wetterling, 11, his brother Trevor, and their friend Aaron, were riding their bikes home at around 9 p.m. in October of 1989 when a car pulled up next to them. A masked individual got out, and made them lie down on the ground, face-down, at gunpoint. He told Trevor and Aaron to run, shoved Wetterling into his car, and for 27 years, no one knew what happened to him.

Four days after he had been reported missing, authorities found his body: the only thing that led to his identification was a ring he was wearing, which featured his father's initials. Till's mother chose to have an open-casket funeral to "let the world see what has happened, because there is no way I could describe this."

Though the evidence against Bryant and Milam was compelling, an all-white, all-male jury acquitted them of Till's murder. Four months later, the pair admitted to the killing in Look Magazine, protected by double jeopardy laws (wherein people can't be prosecuted for the same offense after either an acquittal or a conviction).

MISSOURI — The Union Station Massacre in Kansas City

Charles Arthur “Pretty Boy” Floyd.
AP Images

The Union Station Massacre (also known as the Kansas City Massacre) took place on June 17, 1933. A prisoner, bank robber Frank Nash, was being escorted back to the US Penitentiary at Leavenworth after he escaped in 1930. Nash had serious ties to organized crime in Kansas City, which explains why his transfer was lit up by three shooters. By the time it was over, four law enforcement officers and Nash himself were dead or dying.

While it's not as well-known as other shootings, the Union Station Massacre had a lasting effect on our country. J. Edgar Hoover was the lead investigator on the federal investigation of the shooting, and it shaped his career, helping him become the first and longest-serving head of the FBI.

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MONTANA — The murder of Miranda Fenner in Laurel

On November 15, 1998, 18-year-old Miranda Fenner was attacked while working at a local video store. She was stabbed and slashed in the throat, but managed to crawl to the entrance of the store where she was spotted by passerby. She died of her injuries two hours later.

The pair drove to a family friend's house, August Meyer, and killed him too. Then they hitchhiked off his property with another young couple, and killed them both. Eventually, they landed at the home of C. Lauer Ward (a rich industrialist), and killed him, his wife, and their maid. But the authorities were hot on their tail — so they killed a shoe salesman and stole his car. Starkweather was unfamiliar with the car, attracting the attention of onlookers and getting caught by police after engaging in a high-speed car chase.

Starkweather was found guilty and was given the electric chair in 1959. Fugate was also found guilty, but sentenced to life in prison because she was a minor. She was released on parole in the '70s.

NEW HAMPSHIRE — The disappearance of Maura Murray in Haverhill

Maura Murray was a 21-year-old nursing student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst when she abruptly disappeared without a trace in 2004. She had emailed her professors about a death in the family, explaining that she was going to be missing class for a week, but no such death had taken place.

She hopped into her car and was never heard from again.

Allegedly, her car skidded off the road and hit a snowbank between 7 and 7:30 p.m. A bus driver came upon her car, and asked if she needed help, but Murray claimed that she had already called for roadside assistance. However, the bus driver felt like something was off, and ended up calling the police when he got home. By the time police arrived, Murray was gone.

It's still unknown what happened to Murray. Some people thought she intentionally disappeared, others thought she encountered something dangerous in the woods. An Oxygen series, "The Disappearance of Maura Murray," brought the case back into the public eye, but we might never find out what happened to her.

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NEW JERSEY — The List family murders in Westfield

John List.
Steve Helber/AP Images

John List drove to the train station every day for months, pretending he was going to work, but instead sitting in his car reading the paper or napping.

He had lost his accounting job and did not know how he would tell his family. So, instead of telling them, he shot them all (his wife, mother, and three children) on November 9, 1971. He later explained it was to ensure that they would go to heaven.

He then closed his bank accounts, cashed in his savings bonds, phoned his children's schools to explain that they would be gone for a while visiting their sick grandmother in North Carolina, and cut himself out of every family photo (so there would be no photo for the wanted poster).

List evaded authorities for 18 years — he even remarried. But he was brought down in one of the most American ways possible. After seeing an image of what investigators thought List would look like on an episode of "America's Most Wanted," one of his neighbors called the police.

List died in prison in 2008.

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NEW MEXICO — The disappearance of Tara Calico in Belen

19-year-old Tara Calico was planning on biking around her neighborhood before returning home in September 1988. She even jokingly told her mother to go looking for her if she wasn't back by noon. Sadly, this came to pass. Calico never returned home from her bike ride.

NORTH CAROLINA — The MacDonald family murders at Fort Bragg

Jeffrey MacDonald.
ASSOCIATED PRESS

When police were called to the MacDonald home in February 1970, they assumed they were walking into a domestic dispute. Unfortunately, they walked into something much darker, finding pregnant Collette MacDonald, 26, and her two daughters dead in their home.

Jeffrey, the MacDonald patriarch and an Army surgeon, was alive, with relatively minor wounds compared to the rest of his family. Collette had been stabbed 21 times with an ice pick and 16 times with a knife. Kirsten, 2, had been stabbed 33 times with a knife and 15 times with an ice pick, and Kimberly, 5, had been stabbed around 10 times. MacDonald suffered cuts and a bruises, and a punctured lung.

Nine years later, after the efforts of MacDonald's stepfather-in-law, MacDonald was charged with the murder of his family. Though he maintained his innocence, he was convicted, and is still serving his sentence.

OHIO — The Ariel Castro kidnappings in Cleveland

Between the years 2002 and 2004, Castro kidnapped three young women and held them captive in his home, where he sexually assaulted them. The three young women, Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus were 21, 16, and 14 respectively when they were taken. All had accepted rides from Castro and were persuaded to enter his home, where he would attack them and force them into locked rooms.

Castro was taken into custody, but hung himself from a bedsheet in his cell. His death was ruled a suicide, and his house was demolished with the full support of his three victims.

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OKLAHOMA — The Girl Scout murders in Mayes County

Gene Leroy Hart was arrested, but later acquitted.
ASSOCIATED PRESS

The tragic story of the death of three Girl Scouts begins two months before the murders actually took place. A camp counselor said she returned to her tent to find her belongings rummaged through, and a note threatening to kill three campers.

Three days later, divers found the weighed-down body of his sister Sadie. And finally, two suitcases were found containing the remains of Mary Jane and her third child, Madison. Nowhere to be found? The Longo family patriarch, Christian.

RHODE ISLAND — The murder of Jason Foreman in South Kingstown

5-year-old Foreman vanished without a trace in 1975— allegedly he was so close to his home at the time that his mother heard him laughing from their house. However, he never made it inside, and the case went cold.

Seven years after he went missing, in 1982, Michael Woodmansee was arrested for a different crime: he had allegedly tried to lure a 14-year-old into his home. Woodmansee soon confessed to Foreman's murder. When police investigated Woodmansee's room, they found Foreman's skull on his dresser, and a particularly graphic journal that allegedly contained details of Foreman's death. Woodmansee was just 16 when he kidnapped and killed Foreman. While details in the journal lead many to believe that Woodmansee ate Foreman, this was never proven in court because he pleaded guilty before the jury could hear the whole story.

The case was brought into the spotlight again when it was made public that Woodmansee would be released from prison early, after only serving 28 years of his 40-year sentence. His early release was due to what is known as the "Good Time" law, in which inmates' sentences get reduced for every day they aren't written up for any violations.

SOUTH CAROLINA — The murders of Tyler and Alexander Smith in Union

Susan Smith claimed that her car had been stolen by an unknown black man with her two young sons inside, and stuck to this story for nine days, appearing on TV and giving interviews pleading for her sons to be returned. Slowly but surely, however, her story unraveled, and authorities were able to find cracks in her narrative.

Dillinger was a notorious gangster that terrorized the Midwest — he is said to have killed 10 men, robbed dozens of banks, and even escaped from prison three times.

While Dillinger was eventually killed in a standoff with police in July 1934, the money was never recovered.

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TENNESSEE — The Lillelid family murders in Greeneville

One of the perpetrators, Edward Dean Mullins.
Earl Neikirk/AP Images

Three of the four members of the Lillelid family were murdered on April 6, 1997, outside the small town of Greeneville. Peter, who was 2 years old at the time, was the only survivor, though he was left with permanent disabilities.

They were shot on a deserted road, in what was believed to be a carjacking committed by a group of six young men and women from Kentucky who were running away to New Orleans. Once they had stolen the Lillelid's van, they tried to escape to Mexico, where they were stopped by the police, returned to the US, and promptly arrested.

The six youths, who were between the ages of 14 and 17 and all came from troubled backgrounds, were convicted of the murders, plus the attempted murder of Peter.

While there were rumors about alleged occultism and devil worship, this was refuted by one of the murderers, Karen Howell.

All six are currently serving life sentences.

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TEXAS — The murder of Joan Robinson Hill in Houston

Socialite Joan Robinson Hill died of unexplained causes at age 38. Her husband was accused of murdering her by omission — he had delayed seeking medical care for her. She was sick for two days before her husband, Dr. John Hill, a respected plastic surgeon, decided to drive her to the hospital. She died before doctors could pinpoint exactly what was wrong with her, in March 1969. Her husband was remarried by June.

Despite various autopsies, no one knows for sure what killed Joan, though many believe her husband had poisoned her.

The police ended up charging Bobby Wayne Vandiver for the murder, who claimed that a Houston madam had paid him to kill Hill. But before Vandiver could go to trial, he was killed in an unrelated incident.

UTAH — The murders of Melvyn John Otterstrom and Michael Burdell in Salt Lake City

He was in a Utah prison for shooting his girlfriend's lover in the neck, but managed to escape in August 1984 by faking an illness and breaking out of the hospital. While on the run, he robbed the Cheers Tavern in Salt Lake City and fatally shot the bartender, Melvyn Otterstrom.

Gardner was eventually captured and charged with Otterstrom's murder. While he was in court for the murder of Otterstrom, Gardner attempted to escape with a gun he had smuggled into the building, and ended up fatally shooting Michael Burdell, an attorney.

Gardner was sentenced to life in prison for the death of Otterstrom and given the death penalty for the death of Burdell. Gardner's case was in appeals court for 25 years, inspiring the state of Utah to introduce legislation that would impose limits on the number of appeals a case can have. Gardner was executed by firing squad in 2010, the first time a firing squad had been used since the practice was abandoned in 2004.

VIRGINIA — The Norfolk Four in Norfolk

Michelle Moore-Bosko was found dead in her apartment by her husband, Michael, in July 1997. When the police questioned neighbors and friends, one told them to take a closer look at Danial Williams, a neighbor. Within 24 hours, Williams had been charged with Moore-Bosko's rape and murder. He confessed after 11 hours of intense questioning.

WEST VIRGINIA — The murder of Skylar Neese in Star City

This timing directly contradicted what Neese's friend Shelia Eddy told Neese's parents. Eddy claimed that she and another friend of Neese's, Rachel Shoaf, had picked Neese up at around 11 p.m., and that she was home before midnight.

Leutner was fortunately discovered by a biker and rushed to the hospital, surviving her traumatic injuries. Geyser and Weiser were picked up by the cops later that morning and found to be in possession of a knife. Both confessed to the crime. According to authorities, Geyser told a detective "It was weird that I didn't feel remorse."

WYOMING — The disappearance of Amy Wroe Bechtel in the Wind River Mountains

Bechtel went missing during a run on July 24, 1997 — and police only know this because her car was found near a running trail she frequented.

Her car and an eyewitness who claimed they saw a woman who could have been Bechtel jogging was all the evidence there was. Six years later, a watch similar to the one Bechtel owned was found in the area, but it was impossible to connect it to her.